Aosta · Italy
Necropolis outside the Porta Decumana
Anyone leaving the city to the west walked among tombs. For the Romans this was customary: the dead remained outside the walls, aligned along the road, their inscriptions turned towards those who passed. It was not a concealed cemetery, it was a shop window. Families who could afford it raised visible monuments, because being remembered depended upon how many people read their name. Excavation here has brought to light part of that burial ground, with enclosures, graves and the remains of monuments. For two thousand years, the way to remain alive was to stand beside a busy road.
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Why tombs along the road?
To be read. A funerary inscription spoke straight to the passer-by, often with a formula like you who pass. Memory depended on traffic.
What was the Porta Decumana?
The western gate of the city, at the opposite end from the Porta Praetoria. It marked the way out towards Gaul.
What is visible today?
An archaeological area with burial structures on show. It is one of the least visited parts of Roman Aosta, and often the quietest.
Where it is
More stories in Aosta
- Adret and envers
- When the railway arrived
- Arch of Augustus
- Regional Archaeological Museum
- The villages the city swallowed
- The Battle of the Queens
- Aosta Cathedral
- Church of Santo Stefano